Tyson Gentry woke up this morning like he has every morning for the last year a half. He couldn’t walk. He couldn’t feel his feet or bend at his waist. The former Ohio State football player couldn’t dress himself. But don’t dare feel sorry for Gentry. The one-time Ohio State walk-on wide receiver and punter never has asked why such a tragic accident happened to him.

Todd Porter

Tyson Gentry woke up this morning like he has every morning for the last year a half.
He couldn’t walk. He couldn’t feel his feet or bend at his waist. The former Ohio State football player couldn’t dress himself.
But don’t dare feel sorry for Gentry. The one-time Ohio State walk-on wide receiver and punter never has asked why such a tragic accident happened to him.
On Christmas morning, Gentry doesn’t care for the latest video game system, nor an Ipod. He doesn’t need CDs, DVDs or clothes. What does Gentry, who made the ultimate sacrifice for a sport he loves so much, want?
“Just to be home and spend time with my family,” Gentry said. “That’s the biggest thing. Just spending time with them.”
It is a perspective that most people, let alone a 22-year-old college student, don’t have.
During a 2006 spring practice, Gentry caught a pass, was tackled and hit his head on the ground so hard it snapped his neck and broke the C-4 vertebrae.
He was paralyzed from his shoulders down. After surgery, he regained limited mobility in his arms.
“I never had a problem with the whole ‘Why me?’ part of it,” Gentry said.
“If anything, I ask why did it happen so easily.
“When I’m at rehab at Dodd Hall, especially when I was inpatient rehab, you see people with injuries far worse than yours, and that puts it in perspective.”
Far worse?
Those are the words of a kid who is still young and trying to find his way in the world. There aren’t many injuries “far worse” than paralysis.
Still, Gentry isn’t one to make his situation worse than anyone else’s.
“It puts a lot of things in perspective,” Gentry said. “Before I was injured, I looked back and thought certain things would give me a bad day, or my day is going poorly. Now, I don’t focus on the little things. I focus on the things I have control over, on the positive things.
“I’ve grown from this and can only get stronger from this.”
And that is where Gentry finds his optimism.
Recently, sensation has returned to his body. He is working for a miracle, and he believes with enough hard work, he will walk again.
“It’s not full sensation,” Gentry said. “I don’t have complete feeling, but I can feel touch all over. It’s been a slow progression from the very beginning. In the hospital, I had slight sensation in my left leg and a little bit down my arms to about my biceps. It’s progressed from there.
“I’m very thankful for that. It tells me that things are still connected, and it’s still there. It’s just a matter of not getting through completely. It gives me hope for the future.”
Gentry never lost consciousness on the practice field. He remembers making the catch in traffic and getting tackled. He remembers his head hitting the ground. He remembers his neck snapping. Then came the worst concern any player can have for himself.
“I knew something was wrong right away,” Gentry said. “But at the same time, I wanted to give it a few seconds and hope it just went away. I didn’t know if it was a stinger or what.
“Then, everything sinks in slowly.”
Tressel Takes Special Interest
In the hospital that night, OSU head coach Jim Tressel was there with Gentry’s family. They prayed. They hoped.
Tressel has taken a special interest in Gentry, almost a responsibility.
Early this season, Gentry expressed a liking for a particular weight-training machine to strength coach Eric Lichter. Tressel asked Lichter to look into purchasing a machine, and Tressel researched NCAA compliance rules.
Fitness Quest, based in Canton, makes the machine. Lichter used to help the company market it, and made contact. Fitness Quest donated a machine through its community fund to Gentry, and it sits in Ohio State’s workout facility.
An e-mail that turned into urban legend had Tressel buying the machine himself. That would have caused NCAA compliance issues.
“In all those e-mails, I look like a good guy,” Tressel said. “But it was just the idea that was good on my part.”
Gentry knows Tressel has always been there and will always be there for him.
“He plays the father role very well,” Gentry said. “We all know he will do whatever he can to make sure we’re in a good position to advance ourselves in a career on or off the field.”
Gentry recalled some of the first words of encouragement Tressel spoke to him. They are words he tries to live by.
“The biggest things ... he said was there have been a lot of people in my shoes before this, and there will be a lot of people here in the future, and they’ll look to me for support,” Gentry said. “Even though a bad thing has happened, there is a good chance I can walk away from it. He said, ‘If you don’t, it’s not the end of the world, but there are going to be people who depend on you for a lot of support.’”
Gentry is spending Christmas at home in Perkins. He’s with his family. He has his hopes, and Tressel’s words.
“A big focus of mine is to help as many people as I can,” Gentry said.
Perhaps too young, perhaps too busy, Tyson Gentry doesn’t realize something.
He already has.
Reach Canton Repository sports writer Todd Porter at (330) 580-8340 or todd.porter@cantonrep.com.